IMPROVING THE READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY OF GRADE VIII STUDENTS OF SMPN 13 YOGYAKARTA THROUGH THE DIRECTED READING THINKING ACTIVITY (DRTA) IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2012/ 2013

Abstrak / Ringkasan

This research is aimed at improving Grade VIII students’ reading comprehension by using the Directed Reading Thingking Activity (DRTA) in SMPN 13 Yogyakarta.
This study is categorized into action research. The subjects of the research were 32 students of VIII A class of SMPN 13 Yogyakarta in the academic year of 2012/2013. Procedures of the research are the problem identification, planning, action and observation, and reflection. The data of this study were qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative data were obtained by observing the teaching and learning process during the implementation and interviewing the students and the English teacher. The data were in the form of field notes, interview transcripts, and photographs. Meanwhile, the quantitative data were obtained through assessing the students’ reading comprehension from the pretest and post-test. The data were in the forms of students’ reading scores as performed in the pretest and post test. In addition, this research applied the theoretical triangulation and the time triangulation.
The results of the study show that the use of the Directed Reading Thingking Activity is effective to improve the students’ reading comprehension. It is supported by the qualitative data which show that the students became active during reading. By following the four steps in Directed Reading Thingking Activity, they practiced to predict and to find the main ideas and the details of information. They are confidence in predicting the content of the text in the class also increased. They are accustomed to having discussions with other students. The students have a better motivation in English than before because of the use of DRTA learning log, pictures and star stampel point to reward and to give feedback to their learning. They are not reluctant anymore to ask the teacher when they find difficulties. The finding is also supported by the quantitative data. The mean of the students’ reading comprehension scores improves from 4.3981 in the pre-test to 6.4630 in the post-test. From the results above, it can be concluded that the use of the Directed Reading Thingking Activity can improve students’ reading comprehension.

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